Women will be pushed towards what is the easy option of being handed some drugs and sent home

SPUC Scotland is taking legal advice.

Last week, as the pro-life movement was commemorating 50 years of abortion, the Scottish Government announced that it would allow women to take the abortion pill at home. Dr Catherine Calderwood, Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer, confirmed that she had written to all health boards to say that misoprostol (the second stage of a medical abortion) could be taken by women outside a clinical setting.
She said it was "significant progress" that women in Scotland who are up to nine weeks pregnant could take the second dose of the drug at home if they wanted, saying this would allow them "more privacy, more dignity".

Return to back-street abortions

John Deighan, the Chief Executive of SPUC Scotland, took to the press over the weekend to slam the decision. "This plan for DIY terminations would mark a return to the days of back street abortions with no medical oversight and these powerful drugs are a threat to women’s health," he said. "The reality is that this will harm many vulnerable women who may be desperate about the situation they are in, pushed towards what is the easy option of being handed some drugs and sent home to stop being a problem for society."

"This is a highly irresponsible decision which threatens an explosion of bad mental health outcomes for women in Scotland," Mr Deighan continued. Referring to SPUC's new review of academic studies on the effects of abortion, Abortion and Women's Health, he said: "We have recently provided every Scottish Parliamentarian with solid evidence of the emotional and physical damage that abortion is having on women...We are spending tax payers’ money damaging women and practising abortion in a way far beyond what was ever imagined when the Abortion Act was passed."

Consulting lawyers

Mr Deighan also confirmed that SPUC Scotland is looking at legal avenues in a bid to block the plan. "The decision-making process ahead of this announcement has been completely opaque and there are a number of human rights aspects that we are considering," he said. "We have consulted with senior lawyers and experts in the field and we have some immediate concerns that will be rigorously examined in the coming days."

"The Scottish Government should be under no illusion. We will pursue the matter vigorously. If that means action through the courts we will pursue it as far as necessary."